Friday, May 11, 2012

The sky was dark and gloomy, the air was damp and raw,
the streets were wet and sloppy. The smoke hung sluggishly above the
chimney-tops as if it lacked the courage to rise, and the rain came
slowly and doggedly down, as if it had not even the spirit to pour.- Charles Dickens

At the moment, despite a few hours of semi-summery weather here and there, more or less all we get is rain, wind and grey clouds. It seems as though Mother Nature is somewhat upset and wants to punish us for some obscure deed by serving us a rotten spring and making our mood sink to the lowest of lows. There's no respite from the animosity and hostility with which she has decided to strike us. She acts like a bitter woman who's been cheated on and who has decided to take revenge on that unfaithful lover of hers...

Repetitivety and boredom is what rocks my present existence, and it is getting extremely grueling to rarely see the sun shine or admire puffy white cumuluses. Uniformly gloomy skies above my head sap my vitality and kill my enthusiasm. Like a vampire, obscurity drains me of my life force and glamorizes/bewitches me to a point where I lose all motivation and become a walking zombie.

Lack of light in May is just so depressing and uninspiring, especially when you are desperately waiting for the warmer season to kick off with a blast, fill your heart with dreams and your head with bountiful thoughts. Unfortunately, this is far from happening right now. The heavens above are as desperately desertic as my mind and look as if they've been invaded by maleficially vile creatures hailing from the Netherworld. Nothing is here to water my arid imagination and make it fertile again. Instead, I am stuck in a limbonic neverland and sitting in oblivion's waiting room scrutinising the horizon in search of a spark of ingeniosity.

I meant to do my work today

But a brown bird sang in the apple tree,

And a butterfly flitted across the field,

And all the leaves were calling me.

And the wind went sighing over the land,

Tossing the grasses to and fro,

And a rainbow held out its shining hand--

So what could I do but laugh and go?

- "I Meant to Do My Work Today" by
Richard Le Gallienne

I have no other choice than to bear my misfortunes patiently and turn things to my advantage. Yes, why not relax purposely until "genius" comes out of its hiding place and makes its grand comeback? In any case, there is no law that forces you to be prolific all the time. Being decently loafy isn't a crime. As a matter of fact, everybody should learn to let go of things and to slow down as berserker moduses lead to a lot of misery and grim endings (health complications, stress, burnout and even sometimes death).

Busy bees forget to live and to enjoy themselves. They know no peace and are always productive no matter the costs, thus endangering their mental and physical well-being. Nobody can give endlessly without experiencing the negative side effects of his/her limitless zealousness.

Far from idleness being the root of all evil, it is rather the only true good.

- Soren Kierkegaard

I learned...that inspiration does not come like a bolt, nor is it
kinetic, energetic striving, but it comes into us slowly and quietly and
all the time, though we must regularly and every day give it a little
chance to start flowing, prime it with a little solitude and idleness.

- Brenda Ueland

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the
grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the
water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a
waste of time.- John Lubbock

Efficacious action is good, but frantic and directionless enterprises as well as initiative for the sake of initiative are fruitless and destructive. It is a waste of energy. Better be constructively passive than to be gyrating in all directions without aim and be frenziedly industrious.

In our materialistic society which is oriented towards wealth and profit, indolence is looked upon unfavorably and the church with its centuries of moral oppression based on terror has well contributed to the way it is perceived. Religion, conformists and workaholics say it is a serious sin to be "unoccupied" as they consider this state of grace to be a waste of precious time and the work of the devil. In one word, those who aren't constently slaving are evildoers or/and losers. Well, I refuse to listen to them or feel guilty for my lascivious procrastinating as I believe that each of us needs to let his/her mind wander freely through the lush fields of inertia in order for our brain to breathe fresh air and our spirit to fly high so as to reach contemplative elevation and be one with the Universe.

What is this life, if full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare,

No time to stand beneath the boughs

And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,

Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,

Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,

And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can

enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care

We have no time to stand and stare.

-
"Leisure" by W.H. Davies

Life does not agree with philosophy: there is no happiness that is not
idleness, and only what is useless is pleasurable.

- Anton Chekhov

It is so revitalising to break away from the mad
routine by allowing ourselves to put our feet up every now and then, and so gratifying to simply exist and enjoy the present instant without constantly projecting ourselves in the intangible future. Leisurely laziness is pure bliss and a free luxury. This happiness is available immediately and "requires no work to earn, no mastery to attain, no
wealth to purchase, no distance to travel" (quote by Rev. Samuel A. Trumbore), no goal to reach, no effort to furnish or final product to deliver. One is only required to delight in
nothing in particular and take pleasure in what is happening now. An intoxicating sensation!

In fact, it is a form of meditation. The act of creating an inner void and resting our body and soul fuels our creativity as true inspiration comes during periods of idleness. So, if ever you are feeling drained and your idea bank is empty, don't panick. A vacation or timeout is definitely the answer to your problems...

So on that note, I want to inform you that this is exactly what I'm going to do next week. Six months without holidays has had its toll on me and I cannot continue speeding forward like a steam train that is out of control or else I'll go bananas. Hence, I am taking a short break (not from surfing the web, though - I am too addicted to visiting your lovely blogs LOL) and, after a brief blogging intermission, I will be back on the 23rd of May.

In the meanwhile, I'll leave you with a recipe which illustrates this article perfectly. Those "Shortcut Cinnamon & Tahinomelo Smørhorns" are fast to prepare and require minumum effort to put together. Compared to the traditional Norwegian yeast-based butterhorns, this cinnamony treat is dedicated to faineant bakers who want to whip up something mighty scrumptious without having to spend hours in the kitchen or sacrificing taste for simplicity.

With its Mediterranean twist, this moist and tender scone/biscuit-like pastry is quite addictive and I can assure you that your smørhorns will disappear as rapidly as they arrived on the table. Enjoy!

Last year, we had no spring. I was in mourning. I begin every day with "the world" and end each day "with the world" - even if it is to step outside on a frigid winter's night and acknowledge the moon. Now beginning my day with sweet, cinnamon pastry would just add to the wonder. Enjoy putting your feet up!

Same over here my friend, no trace of spring yet, I'm dumbfounded by the lack of sun this year and even the past couple of years, so unhealthy!These look like croissants, so nice! Thanks for sharing Rosa. Gros bisous and have a lovely day, hoping the Sun will show its face around where we live a bit more often!CheersMamatkamal

These beautiful pastries remind me of rugelah, with a Middle-Eastern twist. Love them! The photos are especially beautiful and convey the perfect mood for relaxing undisturbed. I personally attribute the work ethic to the Anglo-Saxon philosophy, because it certainly did not influence the Middle-Easterners who don't see anything wrong with spending hours idly sitting in the street with a hookah in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other, watching people, chatting here and there and just plain relaxing.

Amazing photos, both the landscapes and the close ups :-). These little crescents look so flaky and buttery. I was sure that it's yeast dough when I first saw them. Your shortcut seems to work extremely well. I got to try this recipe!

I would like to invite you to share this post (and other posts :-) ) on a new photo based recipe sharing site that launched only this Monday. The idea is simple: all recipe photographs are published within minutes of submission. And, of course, the images link back to the author's site.

It's called RecipeNewZ (with Z) - http://recipenewz.com

I hope you get a chance to visit and to share some of your delicious posts with our viewers. It would be a pleasure to have you on board, if not now then maybe after May 23rd after you return to blogging :-)

It is so true Rosa that the weather is not what it is supposed to be at all! I hope you enjoy your break (and I hope your kitty is feeling better too!) I haven't been on a real holiday since jan of last year. Reason being that we cannot go away for longer then 2-3 days without Gizmo getting into trouble. She refuses to eat when we leave; the old lady..:) So no holidays for a while at least not together with Tom... Except for weekends. We can still do that! O the things we do for our cats right?

I liked all those beautiful quotes but this one struck me the most: "I learned...that inspiration does not come like a bolt, nor is it kinetic, energetic striving, but it comes into us slowly and quietly and all the time, though we must regularly and every day give it a little chance to start flowing, prime it with a little solitude and idleness.- Brenda Ueland" A nice reminder of the benefits of solitude and peacefulness.

I'm sorry your spring has been so grey. I'll send you some of our sunshine and warmth. Have a great break! Taking time off really helps revive the soul, spirit and brightens creativity. We'll all be waiting for you:)

Rosa, ohhhh the glaze and cinnamon make these butterhorns irresistible! Love the cherry blossom and pink flower pictures as well as the field of dandelion. Looks like a good place to nap (if we're allowed)! :-)

Oh...Your pictures are so stunning, Rosa! simply irresistible and these cute sweet pastries look deliciously addictive :)Enjoy your time away and come back fully refresh! Weather not so good here either :(

There is no sign of rain out here .. ho and dry! Even though I am loving every bot of it .. I somehow need some rain now. It's just so dry! Love all the quotes you used and that smorhorns sounds absolutely yum.

Hope you're having a good holiday and a rest. I'm going to Sweden for Midsummer's Day in June and I haven't been out of the UK for nearly 2 years! I seem to have learnt the art of procrastination a lot more recently, I have it down to a fine art and it's so easy to do when there's so many great food blogs to read!These look very interesting - like a cinnamon bun crossed with a croissant.

oh rosa our weather for the last 2 and a half weeks have been nothing but rain.my mind was about to go i swear.this week, we have sun. i need to sit in it for hours to recharge.i've bookmarked these little goodies too. love shortcut anything lol

We finally saw the sun for a while today and the temperature rose up 2 degrees, so it wasn't that bad. I have never hear of smorhorns before but I am sure they are really good especially with tahinomelo.

the capitalistic thinking is the death of our creative mind. I have always disliked the way they pressure you, to force yourself, to do what makes no sense at all. Wrong values are taken in this world, when we could do soo much, which would result in a better, happier society.

Here in San Diego we have May Gray and June Gloom - coastal clouds that make you forget it's summer outside. This May, though, has been rather beautiful, so I will take it! Gorgeous pastries. If I made these, I'd hide in the closet, not share them and eat every one myself!

I love the look of those little horns... And that's one of my favourite poems. Idleness is definitely necessary to recharge the brain - I call it my blue-sky thinking time lest the concept of my idleness should offend ;)

All your recipes look amazing ! thanks for the lovely blog ;-)I don't know if you've visited my new vegetarian food blog (cooking and baking) but if you haven't - I'd like to invite you (you can enjoy it even if you're not vegetarian).Feel free to stop by, say hello and follow the blog so that you'll be getting daily updates (-:http://purevegetarianbites.wordpress.com/